Messiah College Women's Basketball

Messiah head womens basketball coach Mike Miller doesnt just lead the Falcons program. He is Messiah University womens basketball. After finishing his 36th year at the helm in 2020-21, Millers 710 wins are more than any other basketball coach mens or womens in Messiah history, while Miller became just the 5 coach in NCAA DIII womens basketball to reach the 700 win plateau in January). Miller currently sits 3rd all-time among active coaches in DIII women's basketball with 710 wins. His 710-246 career record (.743 winning percentage) is impressive, but pales in comparison to what hes done most recently: over the last 22 years, Messiah has reached the NCAA National Tournament 20 times, and during that span Miller has racked up an overall 521-110 record, equating to an incredible .839 winning percentage.  A 1983 Messiah graduate, Miller began coaching the Falcons in the 1986-87 season, his first as a collegiate head coach. He methodically led the program to national prominence, as the 1996 season was the programs first 20-win campaign producing an overall record of 20-8 and first NCAA Tournament berth. Since then, the program has only raised its own standard of excellence, recording a minimum of 22 wins per season from the 1999-2000 season to the 2009-2010 campaign. The Falcons advanced to the 2008 NCAA Division III National Championship game, falling to Howard Payne University to finish as national-runners up. Prior to that year, Messiahs 2000-2001 season stood as the most successful in program history, as they also reached the National Championship before falling to the University of Washington-St. Louis. The 2002-03 team set a school-record 28 wins, a mark bettered by the 2007-08 squad's 30-3 record. Messiah has won 13 of the last 20 MAC Commonwealth Titles, including victories in 12 Conference Championship games since 2002. Messiah rattled off 51 consecutive regular-season conference home games victories over an eight-year span that ended in 2010. Miller has garnered a variety of awards for his coaching prowess, being named MAC Commonwealth Coach of the Year in 1994-1995, 1999-2000, 2000-2001, 2002-2003, 2006-2007, 2007-2008, 2016-17, and 2018-19. 2020-21 He was named the NCAA Middle Atlantic Region Coach of the Year in 2002-2003, 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19, 2020-21, 2020-21 while Messiah has become a staple in the post-season. The Falcons made it to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament in 1995-96, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20 while making it to the "Sweet 16" in 2004-05, 2012-13, 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20. The program qualified to the "Elite 8" in 2003-04, while the 2007-08 season served as a bookend to the teams only other trip to the Final Four in 2000-01. A coach set on teaching principles both on and off the court, Millers teams have always achieved in the classroom, evidenced by repeated appearances at the top of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll. Messiah finished with the best team GPA among all NCAA Division III programs following the 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 seasons, and claimed the number two slot following the 2007-2008 academic year. The team has appeared in the Academic Top 25 in 10 of the 14 years the award has been in existence, finishing in the top eight on nine different occasions. Miller's integrity and dedication to women's basketball has given him the opportunity to serve as a member of the Commonwealth Conference Games Committee and as a member of the NCAA Ranking Committee. He currently serves as a WBCA Commonwealth Conference Captain and as a selection committee member for the prestigious WBCA Jostens Lifetime Achievement Award. Mike and his wife of 38 years, Norma, live in Grantham. They have two children: daughter Taylor Keener '14, and son Michael (Gordon College '12) and 2 grand children Ellie and Theo. Last updated: 3/25/22

Noble begins her 31st season as an assistant coach in 2016-17, a tenure matching that of head coach Mike Miller. She works primarily with the forwards in the program, and one of her main rsponsibilities is recruiting for the Falcons. Noble began her coaching career at Messiah after graduating from the program in 1984, and was inducted into Messiah's Hall of Honor in the inaugural class of 1995. Her passion is teaching and mentoring whether on the court or in the classroom. She began teaching chemistry and biology at Northern High School. She then left that position to attend Penn State University where she earned her Master's degree in 1992. Currently she is a Senior Lecturer in Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Messiah College. "Being an assistant coach at Messiah College has been a tremendous blessing as I have had the unique opportunity to help build this program on excellence with a mission to advance the Kingdom of God," Noble said of her time as an assistnat coach at Messiah. She also added, "I'm looking forward to this season and the challenges that will shape and mold our team. It's exciting to ponder God's plan and purpose for this group and how they will come together to make their mark on and off the court."